Essay On Walt Whitman's Song Of Myself

Romanticism was a movement in the 18th century that was a response to the Enlightenment, which was the movement that stated that everything should be based on facts and reason. Romanticism stated that feelings and emotions are just as important as reason and logic in understanding everything in the world (Romanticism Movement, n.d.). Romanticism strongly affected the writings of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson and can be seen in the poems “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim” (Whitman, 1867), “O Me! O Life!” (Whitman, 1867), and “Tell all the truth but tell it Slant” (Dickinson, n.d.).

Everyone says it. Your mom, your teachers, even your friends. Everyone encourages you to just be yourself, but if you think about how individuals are shunned, does anyone actually want you to be different? While society claims to encourage individuality, in reality it compels people to conform, causing most people to sacrifice their individuality to fit in.

Walt Whitman uses his poems to demonstrate gender equality by addressing the male and female forms as equals. After describing himself as a universal poet, of both “the woman the same as the man.” Whitman says that it is, “As great to be a woman as it is to be a man”(Whitman 24). During his lifetime, women were viewed as inferior to men; they did not have voting rights, and “contained fewer multitudes economically, intellectually, and psychologically” (Pollak 108). Whitman, on the contrary, expresses his respect for women as equals to men, and does not view one above the other. He, unlike other poets of the time, he shines a positive light on women and glorifies their strength and power.

Often a classic poem; such as, “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman while be imitated later by other writes; for example, “America, I Sing You Back” by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. Both poem discuss their thoughts and feeling on America and discuss how citizens feel. Whitman’s poem was written during the eighteen sixties where he expressed as he expressed strong patriotism for his country. Coke’s poem was published in two thousand fourteen the author discusses her dissatisfaction of what America has become over the years. Both poems discuss their love for their country; however, Coke discusses her dissatisfactions with America.

In the two poems the reader can see many examples of figurative language. In the poem, “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman

Abe Lincoln knew Walt Whitman from previous years and would even often recite some of his poems out loud or just by himself. Walt Whitman was generally inspired by Abe Lincoln and wrote many poems inspired from the president himself. When Walt Whitman traveled away from Washington D.C on 1865 to go and visit his family in Brooklyn, Walt Whitman started to go over one of his new poems called “Drum-Taps” and shortly later he received the news of Abe Lincoln's assassination. Walt Whitman with crushed within hearing about his idol being shot in the head, and to pay ovation to Abe Lincoln for all he did, Walt Whitman wrote his best known poem “O Captain My Captain”. In that poem he explained how Lincoln united the nation and succeeded in winning the Civil War, but was not able to live to see the aftermath. Walt Whitman was also relieved to see the end of the Civil War and hoped that their would be peace between the reunited country as many other countries known as The United

On a bright Sunday morning, accompanied by her mother and grandmother, a young girl lounges in the pew of a church when a missal catches her eye, and she begins to flip through the pages revealing the compilation of the religious texts. As this young girl grows older and presumably pursues a higher education, she will begin studying texts of the same complexity of those contained in the missal, which will challenge traditional beliefs and contrast religious literature with literature that happens to contain religious themes. When analyzing these pieces of work, the girl will propose many questions that readers prior may have considered at an earlier time. In American literature, specifically through the examples of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman and Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin the Sun, religion, once thought of as a unification of all people, paradoxically acts as a source of the development of an identity, rebellion from a community, and a factor of discrimination.

Walt Whitman captures his audience’s attention with his realism poetry and free verse poetry throughout much of his life as a poet. Whitman was a man of the civil war era and in his poem “The Wound-Dresser” shows his life experiences in the war come full force in the way he conveys his contribution in the civil war. His view of the war as a wound-dresser and he describes some of the most horrendous scenes imaginable from the eyes of an everyday man. His poem “The Wound-Dresser” doesn’t show the war from a distance, but from right on the battlefield in its unedited version as written by Whitman. The way Whitman conveys his poems of the everyday man’s life in his time-period is presented by utilizing his realism style to connect to the audience and his gruesomely descriptive vocabulary.

Among numerous other poets, Walt Whitman is unquestionably the greatest supporter of democracy. Of course, many of English romantic poets were faithful adherents of democracy. However, Whitman’s vision of democracy was much more vivid and realistic. It can be stated that he was a systematic follower of political realities. He denounced all prerogatives and vested interest and reflected complete harmony between the individual and society. Walter Whitman was transcendentalist who believed in individual freedom and democracy and it definitely affected his poetry which is mainly focused on the ideas of democracy, equality, and brotherhood. For instance, in the poem Song of Myself, Whitman puts an emphasis on equality of all men and women. To him, all individuals are equal and all professions are equally honorable. In his interpretation, Whitman states that the freedom which is offered by democracy is for all should include all people, and not renounce those of other races, whether any social standings. This essay will focus on the main ideas presented in Whitman 's vision of equality in democracy in his Song of Myself.

Whereas Emerson believes the self strictly exists in your soul, Whitman believes that sense of self is found in both your soul and your body. Whitman sees your soul and body as a point of connection and that you cannot have one without the other and that the two are equal. For instance, Whitman says, “I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have said that that body is not more than the soul, And nothing, not God is greater to one than one’s-self is” (Whitman 51). Whitman is illustrating that the soul and the body are equal to one another and that one is not more important than the other. Therefore, he does not agree with Emerson that the two souls must be on the same spiritual level because you can connect to anyone who has a body and since everyone has a body, you can and should connect to everyone. The last part of this quote also reinforces the importance of self-acceptance and your sense of self because nothing, not even God, is greater than yourself. He also continuously sees himself in others and identifies with everyone throughout his poem, showing the importance of relationships and connectedness which arises from his belief that the self is both soul and body.

William McFeely suggests that Frederick Douglass, like Walt Whitman, has written a “Song of Myself” with his slave narrative. Both fairly known in their own time, I am going to look at how they compare and how they are different from each other. Frederick Douglass with his autobiographical slave narrative and Walt Whitman with his poem “Song of Myself”. The question becomes how Douglass creates himself through his narrative and how it compares to Whitman’s self in his poem.

It is common for a person to admire the stars in the sky. Their brightness and arrangement is a fascinating sight, of course. On the other hand, people tend to forget or plainly ignore what is right under their feet. In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman focused on what he thought was truly important, details of the green grass. Whitman wrote, “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars” (663). This explains how he believed that the stars and the grass should be thought of as equal and man should show appreciation for grass as well. Moreover, Whitman implies that because the grass is so close in terms of touch, humans should enjoy it more since stars are completely out of reach. As it is evident that Whitman appreciates

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman emphasize the importance of living true to yourself and developing complete self-acceptance. To live true to yourself and completely accept who you are, you must understand your identity and your sense of self. In Self-Reliance, Emerson explains that your identity and your sense of self is spiritual. Whitman argues, in Song of Myself, that your identity and sense of self is based on both your soul and your body. While both Emerson and Whitman allow for intimate connections and friendships, Emerson encourages people to have relationships with a select few, whereas Whitman encourages people to connect with everyone and anyone, due to their different views of self.

Poems are short meaningful pieces of literature that can be interpreted in multiple ways depending upon the reader at hand. That is what makes a poem unique compared to other literature pieces because in a poem the author tends to use figurative language to fulfill meaning behind their work. One poem “Love is a Sickness Full of Woes” by Samuel Daniel describes the pains of being lovesick. Love can either benefit us if nurtured and cared for, but if not tended to then let loose can ultimately hurt us. As to another poem “American Solitude” by Grace Schulman describes a life of solitude being most warming to the soul to ward off loneliness. To avoid the affect of feeling lovesick or unwanted, a life of solitude is a choice indeed. The two authors have two different aspects of life in how one should live to

Whitman’s influential writing stems from his positive and uplifting messages. This is where Whitman was far divergent than Dickinson. Walt had tendencies to mainly use free-verse. He was a straight forward writer whom wrote lengthy pieces that revolved around the individual. Whitman's writing are depictions of individuals everyday life struggles, and how to consistently have positive outcomes the most horrid situations. In Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman he discuss in this quote how to face fearsome situations: